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Murphy was largely raised by his stepfather as his father, an Air Force Captain, died in a crash over the Azores when Murphy was 2. Three years lager, his mother married Richard J. Hughes, then a Superior Court judge in Trenton and later was governor of New Jersey. Hughes had two siblings and four step-siblings.[1]

Murphy married Marianne Espinosa, who was a Superior Court judge. The couple had two daughters, Meridith and Flannery. In 1987, Murphy's wife confronted him with his drinking problem, and he began to attend Alcoholic's Anonymous.[1] The couple divorced in 2005.[2] Murphy is a resident of Chatham Township. His brother is Brian M. Hughes.

Murphy received his appointment in the Public Defender's office in 1979 through his relationship with Stanley Van Ness, who was also a public defender and had been chief counsel for Richard J. Hughes. In the public prosecutors office, Murphy was the creator of the county's unit for victims of domestic violence.[1] In New Jersey, the County Prosecutor is the equivalent of the District Attorney. Murphy was appointed to the post by former Governor James Florio. While serving as the top law enforcement official in Morris County, an affluent suburban community near New York City, Murphy successfully prosecuted Irene and Arthur Seale for the highly publicized kidnapping and murder of Exxon executive Sidney Reso in 1992.[5] In 1994, he was the prosecutor who sought Mohammed Abequa, a county resident who murdered his wife while their two children slept in the next room, kidnapped his children, and fled to his native Jordan. Working closely with the U.S. State Department and the Jordanian government, Murphy traveled to Jordan to assist in Abequa's trial and subsequent conviction. He served as President of the New Jersey Prosecutors Association.

Murphy left the prosecutors office in 1995 at the expiration of his term and entered private practice. He worked at the firm, Bourne, Noll and Kenyon in Summit, New Jersey in January 199, and took a leave of absence from January to June 1997 to run for governor. In February 1998 he left the firm and joined Scarinci & Hollenbeck in Secaucus, New Jersey.[3]

Murphy ran for Governor of New Jersey in 1997 but lost in the Democratic primary. Murphy received 21% of the vote, winning in five counties and placing second in twelve despite not having any notable endorsements. He ran behind Jim McGreevey and CongressmanRob Andrews.[6][7] During his run for governor, he was the only candidate to advocate increasing taxes, proposing a cigarette tax to fun school spending increases and being open to a tax on high earners to pay for essential state services.[1] Murphy was briefly a candidate in the 1999 Senate primary race, be did not mount an organized campaign.[8] In 2002, Murphy denied rumors that he was considering running for Congress in District 25.[9]

Murphy was identified by PoliticsNJ.com as one of New Jersey's 100 most influential people as of 2004.[11] He was closely aligned with former Governor Jon Corzine and the state's legislative leaders at the time, Senate then-President Richard Codey and Assembly then-Speaker Joseph Roberts.

As of 2018, Murphy is a partner at the lobbying firm Impact NJ, one of the top ten lobbying firms in the state measured by revenue.[12]

↑Symons, Michael. Senate puts former Morris judge back on the bench and Koloff, Abbott. Judge returns, but past not forgotten, both in Dailry Record (Morristown, New Jersey) 1 Jul 2005, page 1 and 8, accessed at Newspapers.com